# Difference between APM Server and APM Integration

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/difference-between-apm-server-and-apm-integration/340985>\
**Category:** APM\
**Tags:** server\
**Created:** [August 17, 2023, 9:12am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/difference-between-apm-server-and-apm-integration/340985 "2023-08-17T09:12:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![musialny](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/musialny/32/124438_2.png) [@musialny](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/musialny)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2023, 9:12am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/difference-between-apm-server-and-apm-integration/340985/1 "2023-08-17T09:12:41Z")

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What is the difference between APM Server and APM Integration?

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**Author:** ![stephenb](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/stephenb/32/40856_2.png) [@stephenb](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/stephenb)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2023, 6:14pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/difference-between-apm-server-and-apm-integration/340985/2 "2023-08-20T18:14:33Z")

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They serve the same purpose to collect the APM data from the source APM agents (traces, metrics etc) do a little but of processing and forward to Elasticsearch.

APM Sever is a standalone version of the APM Server

> **[Self manage APM Server | APM User Guide \[8.9\] | Elastic](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/apm/guide/current/getting-started-apm-server.html#setup-apm-server-binary)**

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/3/6/3612d2f4796842d515b26edd43165cc397862007.png)

vs

APM Integration is basically the APM Server installed as an integration within an Elastic Agent

> **[Self manage APM Server | APM User Guide \[8.9\] | Elastic](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/apm/guide/current/getting-started-apm-server.html#setup-fleet-managed-apm)**

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/c/c/cc5f24b3c03c927f905e831b94f85edff2aff1ee.png)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![musialny](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/musialny/32/124438_2.png) [@musialny](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/musialny)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2023, 6:27pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/difference-between-apm-server-and-apm-integration/340985/3 "2023-08-20T18:27:05Z")

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And elastic agent is just a daemon that manages APM Server instance?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![stephenb](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/stephenb/32/40856_2.png) [@stephenb](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/stephenb)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2023, 7:15pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/difference-between-apm-server-and-apm-integration/340985/4 "2023-08-20T19:15:46Z")

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That is a fair way to think of it ... I think of it as a "Managing Daemon" that manages the integrations. It can manage any of the 300+ integrations... the APM server is just a specific integration that happens to have the same purpose / capabilities of the Stand Alone APM Server.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [September 17, 2023, 7:16pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/difference-between-apm-server-and-apm-integration/340985/5 "2023-09-17T19:16:23Z")

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